This was a necessary win for the Maple Leafs at a time when wins are necessary.

And this doesn’t begin in any way to answer the questions, nor should it calm the doubts about this team. The crisis of Monday morning was lessened ever slightly with a shootout victory Monday night over the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, but really just slightly.

Were the Leafs sharp Monday night?

Not really.

Did they take it to Vegas?

Not really.

Did they manage the puck better in the neutral zone?

Not really.

Did they get calm and controlled goaltending?

Not really, until the shootout.

Did they out-compete Vegas?

Not really.

Did they demonstrate the kind of identity that indicates they are challengers for the Stanley Cup, or to be taken seriously as a contender?

Not really.

They won a shootout. Mitch Marner scored. That was the win.

In the morning, I asked Mike Babcock if the Leafs had reached the first crisis point of his coaching career in Toronto and he first talked about his initial season, where tanking was the undeclared goal and tanking was accomplished. Those Leafs lost a lot that year — but everybody had a sense of what was going on. There was no crisis.

Last season was all about becoming a playoff team. Growing. Developing. Seven rookies all coming together to lead the Leafs to an excitement level we’ve rarely seen before. No crisis there.

Now what?

Babcock knows the Leafs have to get better, can’t be this sloppy, this loose.

“Do we need to fix this? Absolutely,” he said at his morning press availability. “Were we very good on the trip? I liked us at times. I didn’t like us at other times. I thought the game in St. Louis in the second period they absolutely dominated us and we had no juice left whatsoever.

“Is there a reason for that? There’s lots of reasons. But I’m not big on (explaining) that. I’m big on the game today and I don’t care where you’ve been, how far you’ve gone, anything like that you dig in and compete hard and play right.”

Patrick Marleau (POSTMEDIA)

Playing right is one of Babcock’s favourite expressions. It has no actual definition, but it’s the kind of thing you know when you see it. Playing right, the way the Leafs did earlier this season against Chicago and against Los Angeles at home. Playing right is the goal, really, because if the Leafs play the way Babcock needs and wants them to play, they will be the team that Bodog, the betting website, thought they were a few weeks ago.

“We’ve been in our own way,” Babcock said. “I really believe the last five or six games, we’re not playing without the puck right, turning over the puck. We took a run at that. We’ve proved to ourself we can’t win like that. So let’s fix it.”

There is a growing list of what the Leafs need to address to become the great team they can be. They need to play be smarter, which means playing the right way, the Babcock mantra. They need to improve their attention to detail: Hockey can be far more about playing without the puck than playing with it.

What they need to do is the Pittsburgh thing of a year ago: Playing strong neutral zone defence, which really means spending less time in your own zone. The Penguins could win a Stanley Cup without having a great defenceman on their roster doing that — and having Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, to start.

The Leafs, with Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri, already have 19 goals from their top two centres. They offer up an enormous challenge for whomever they play against.

This is kind of new for Babcock. This task of teaching a team how to win. He was spoiled in Detroit to a degree. He always had Nick Lidstrom on his team. He had Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. They just knew.

Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen (31) watches the puck as the Knights score in the second period in Toronto on Monday November 6, 2017. Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun

“Even on your bad nights when your legs don’t feel right you win, because you just know how to play We haven’t figured that part out yet. When we were 7-1, we weren’t as good as everybody was saying. When you’re 1-6 (heading into last night) you’re not as bad as everyone is saying.”

He didn’t mention the term structure. Some scouts from around the NHL watching the Vegas game mentioned it. The Leafs need more structure. They need more discipline.

Again, Frederik Andersen was just OK on Monday night, which isn’t just OK for the Leafs. If they’re going to be this loose, they need more from their goaltender before the shootout.

Defenceman Morgan Rielly was asked if he was worried.

“No, not at all,” was the answer. “We’re not happy in the way it’s gone the past little bit. We know we can be better. We need to be better. We can be better.”

A win Monday night earned the Leafs two points. That’s all the pragmatic end. There is still so much work to be done here.

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